Notes / Commercial Description:
True to its IPA roots Dogzilla has a massive hop presence that is Piney and Citrusy. A malty backbone, along with the dark malt gives it a bit of a roasty finish. Brewed with Simcoe and Cascade Hops, Pale Malt, Munich, and Black Barley.

Reviews by eclaycamp:

My local beer store had a bunch of Laughing Dog in stock so I picked up several, including DogZilla. Pours a deep dark reddish brown, not truly a "black" IPA - to me this would be what I would call a "Cascadian Dark Ale" - though that style name is somewhat pretentious. This beer is pretty to look at, with a billowing and sticky two finger light tan head, with lacing clinging to the glass. Massive hop aroma hits the nose first, with loads of pine and grass up front. Malt aroma there as well, somewhat crackery, though faint. Mouthfeel is mildly carbonated, and a little bit thin. You don't have time to really notice this though, as tons and tons of fresh hop flavor hijack the taste. This is clearly a West Coast style brew, right up there with the big boys in terms of hop presence. Atypical to style, the taste is fleeting - rather than slamming the tongue with waves of lingering bitterness the brew instead finishes very dry, with crackery malt hitting all the right notes. Overall this is a very nice take on the CDA / Black IPA / IBA style, as the mild bitterness and great hop character makes for an easy drinking beer.

More User Reviews:

A bold and experimental beer that has a lot going for it, except for some flaws in brewing technique that allows some off-flavors to persist.

Dark amber/brown but somewhat translucent- looks much more like a deep Red Ale with only slight color corrections for the roasted barley. A quick rise and fall of foam shows early maltiness but thinning late. Light lacing.

Hops and roast lead the way in aroma and taste, along with malty, roasty, grainy character. As soon as the hops take hold, a twangy-tart-phenolic (plastic) flavor and scent comes into play and is more than just a slight distraction. The slight Schwarzbier-like roast attempts to clean up the beer right before the finish, but makes the beer a bit grainy and acrid.

The beer has a medium-light body that just fails the flavors by finishing thin, acidic, and grainy to texture.

Like many other Laughing Dog products, the basic recipe seems fine but the infections from tannin extractions and polyphenols is just too much to overlook.

Poured into an imperial nonic a deep chocolate brown with some real ruby tinint,a 1/2 finger tannish colored head atop that was gone pretty quickly.Sharp piney hop notes along with dark roast at the onset,dark molasses sweetness is light,pretty average for the style.Sharp and thinner in the mouth takes away from the flavors in my opinion,piney hops dominate with mild sweetness,a little raw earthiness in the finish.Not a very good example of the style in my opinion,it lacks body and flavor complxity,still I do like most of Laughind Dog's wares.

This is a good IPA. The chocolatey appearance doesn't add much of anything but novelty. The pour is a deep brown to black with a modest white head that retreats quickly leaving a moderate lace. The hops and malts don't exactly explode into the nose but they are there, they are consistent, and they are nice. The nose is a bit boozy with some sweetness via the malts. This IPA has a nice combination of malt and hop, not too much of either, just a nice fruity bitterness with a toasty sweetness that coexist quite nicely. There was a lot of hype surrounding this style and the dark malt does add a nice toastiness to the beer, but it is nothing to really write home about. The beer is good and the hype is hype.

Appearance - Coming out of the bottle this is a rather unappealing greyish brown, but once in the glass it gets better. Deep ruby brown, all but opaque unless held up to the light. Average pour produced a one inch billowy light tan head that hung out for a bit and clung to the glass wherever it had a chance.

Smell - Citrusy hops off the bat with a little malty sweetness in the background, some earthy notes but pretty one dimensional with hops up front, though I'm not complaining.

Taste/Mouthfeel - Very thin mouthfeel with not very noticeable carbonation. Taste is bitter, but not really the pleasant kind. Taste of rubber left in the back of my mouth. A little smoke and a lot of earth. As I continue it isn't as cloying on the palate but still, not impressed.

Drinkability - Well, it goes down easily, which I guess makes it drinkable, but the taste just doesn't leave you wanting more. I don't know where to go with this one.

Pours a dark brownish-red color with a white head. The aroma is grassy hops with a lot of toffee malt, piney hops and some iced tea notes. The flavor is pine and roasted malts with some resiny hops, earthy hops and surprisingly, something that resembles tea. Medium mouthfeel and medium carbonation. Good, but not among the best Black IPAs I have tried.

Semi-clear, caramel colored with ruddy highlights. A chunky and rocky oatmeal colored head rises up huge and frothy. Aroma of roasted malt, cocoa, and citrus.

Flavors of roasted dark malt, cocoa and coffee, paired with bright, citrusy and piney hops. Hints of smoke and oak. Flavors move in and out, working well together. Full and rich mouthfeel, satisfying and tasty.

Really, really impressed with this beer. Had it at a few places while up in Boise. Also ran into it at the Yakima Hop Festival. Best Black IPA I've had possibly, even better than Stone's?
Very hoppy.

Looks very cool. Jet black, good head. Smell is great, lets the bitter hops shine, a meld of citrus and lesser pine.

Of course, taste is its best quality. Could drink this so often, if only it were more widely available. Bitterness in check, hops shine, not heavy body.

Check this beer out if you can on tap, I've had bottles I wasn't nearly as impressed with. You just don't seem to get the Simcoe and Cascade hop assault not nearly as complete without all that pine and citrus hop mouthfeel.

22 ounce bottle killer label of the Dogzilla attacking the town, simcoe and cascade in a black IPA from Idaho man are we getting progressive, did I mention I purchased this in West Virginia, holy shit what's going on? The body is pitch Black with a light beige head almost white, I've never seen a head this light in a beer this dark. Aromatics are giving off citrus and spicy notes almost a cinnamon like character if I had to describe it any further. The first sips carries that black roast blended with high alpha acid hops rather nicely, drinks like a highly carbonated schwarzbier with more hop pellet kick than most of them out there, the spicy characteristic is nice and would blend great with the Kristoff Sumatran wrapped cigar I'm about to light up. Light dark chocolate herbal mint, spicy hops, mild citrus twang but really ends up as a nice spicy schwarzbier more than a black IPA. Mouthfeel is medium at best with ample flowing carbonation a layer of spice and hop bitterness is left on the palate between sips. Overall a beer that I will drink sparingly not the one I wanted compared to other big dark beers out there, I'm glad the alcohol is not over the top it's well hidden and barely a factor in this big beast of a 22 ounce beer.

Pours a dark amber color with a thin light tan head. The head recedes into a thin ring around the glass leaving light lacing.

Smells of lightly roasted caramel malts with good amounts of grapefruit hops.

Tastes similar to how it smells. The malt flavors do not fit into any real category - rather the flavors are jumbled into roasted, toasted, and caramel. Light citrus flavors come out midway through the sip before a solidly bitter ending.

Mouthfeel is good. It's got a nice thickness with lighter than average carbonation.

Drinkability is good. I had no problem finishing my glass but I'm not too sure about another.

Overall this was interesting, but I'm not sure I would get this again.

(Served in a tulip glass)
A- This beer pours a jet black with faint garnet hint at the base. There is a creamy beige head that is bubbly and last for a long time. There are a few tiny bubbles stuck to the base of the glass but that is all I can see.
S- The full woody green hops have a hint of musty black malt to them but it is pretty light.
T- The cream flavor leads into a big green Northwestern hop finish with some pungent hop bitterness that lingers after each sip. As the beer opens up the initial creamy flavor takes on a sweaty black malt tartness but it is very light.
M- this beer has a medium-full mouthfeel with the head helping make a creamy sensation, and no alcohol heat.
D- This is a nice IPA with full good depth of hops and a nice balance of bitterness. It has an interesting twist with the black malt qualities being more sweaty, astringent ( but in a pleasant way) and not the fullness of black malt you get in a stout or porter.

This brew is a transparently clear red-brown in color. A light tan head is quick to form with moderate retention and equally moderate lacing.
There's a bit of zing in the aroma, like a particular mix of sweetness and something mildly astringent. Sweetness does come in on a few fronts: a light caramel, citrus, and a tinge of fruits. Hops are up front then followed by roasted grains with the rest lingering.
Something went a bit wrong here, and it involves what I'd expect to be the problem if a brewery went off on trying to nail the style: a bit of an acrid touch and some astringency. All the other flavors I'd expect from the nose are present, and it just seems there's a bad balance happening somehow. An unfortunate sourness comes out in the finish as well.
The body is on the light side of medium and goes too thin. It's about average, offering a hint of what it could be but a graininess lingers and, while this beer is crisp, the grainy quality and thinness keep it mediocre.
Laughing Dog is generally good, but this was something of a miss; not terrible, but like a decent BMC effort.